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Polls closed (mostly) updateThe polls are now mostly all closed in the five states (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio) holding primaries today, although a few may remain open to accommodate lines and make up for lost time when they opened late this morning

One place polls aren’t open late is Orange County, Florida. The state denied Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles request to keep them open later due to ballot shortage.

There were reports of ballot shortages throughout Illinois and some polling places experienced long lines, especially those near college campuses, with people wishing to register and vote today. Four Suburban Cook Co. polling places were forced to stay open until 8 p.m. because they opened late. And while a court allowed 17-year-olds to vote in Ohio, some in Illinois who wanted to register and vote today were turned away because of a programming glitch. The problem was fixed and an alert was sent out, but Board of Elections Chairwoman Marisel Hernandez said she didn’t know how many teens were affected.

There were also reports of ballot shortages and long lines in some Ohio and North Carolina polling places and one North Carolina polling place was forced to stay open 30 minutes because it opened 30 minutes late when an election judge overslept.

And in the oy vey moment of the day poll workers at one Polk County, Florida polling place told a couple that today’s primary was only for Republicans. “The worker was counseled. But, the truth is, no voters were turned away,” Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards told WFLA. “It was a mistake. It was an unfortunate mistake and it got corrected immediately.”

We’ll have a complete wrap of all the news from the primaries along with all the other election reform news tomorrow.

Late afternoon updateVoters continued to flow into polling places in the fives states holding primaries today--Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio and while many of the morning glitches have worked themselves out, there has been some fallout.

Problems that surfaced this morning in Duval County, Florida with the county’s electronic poll books had been resolved in most polling places by 2:30 p.m. “We weren’t expecting it, but fortunately we planned for a contingency,” Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan told WOKV.

The polls will be open late in at least two counties, possibly more. Orange County, Florida, which struggled with data glitches has asked Gov. Rick Scott for an additional hour of voting. "A request was made to the secretary of state to extend voting an extra hour to 8 p.m. in precincts where municipal elections are taking place," Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles told News 6. "The request is pending approval by the governor." The glitch was occurring in precincts where municipal elections are also being held.

Also in McHenry County, Illinois, polls will stay open until 8:30 p.m. under an emergency order. This is 90 minutes longer. The delayed closing is to accommodate those who may have not been able to vote earlier due to problems with e-poll books. The North Carolina Board of Elections will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. to determine if polls in four counties need to be held open for polling places that opened more than 15 minutes late this morning. The additional time would be equivalent to the minutes late at the opening.

There were few reports of problems out of Ohio except in Cleveland where two poll workers got into an argument and one poll worker pulled a gun from his backpack and threatened the other poll worker. The poll worker was arrested and faces charges of aggravated menacing, carrying a concealed weapon and having weapons under a disability. He also faces marijuana possession charges.

Oh, and we’ll let the media outlets call today what they want, but we’ve come up with our name and we can’t believe we didn’t think of it sooner. Et tu Super Tuesday?

Late morning updateAlthough the jury is still out on what we’re calling today--Mega Tuesday, Sorta Super Tuesday, Super Tuesday 2: Electric Boogaloo, voters are now casting their ballots in all five states--Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio--holding primaries today.

For the most part, things were going smoothly in all five states, although there were issues. In Duval County, Florida all 199 had to move to traditional paper check-in methods when a software glitch prevented poll workers from using e-poll books. Also in Florida technical glitches with electronic voting equipment were forcing several polling places in Orange County to move to paper ballots.

While voting is going smoothly, there were some issues with the check-in process in Cumberland County, North Carolina when polls opened at 6:30 a.m.. Poll workers moved to paper printouts to check in voters.

In Illinois, which is rolling out same-day registration for the first time during a presidential primary, the only major issue reported at this time during morning voting was voters in several Winnebago County polling places receiving incorrect ballots. The ballots that were handed out only contained federal races. "As much as we try to train the judges and try to remind them, maybe they just got overwhelmed first thing in the morning," Winnebago County Clerk Margie Mullins told the Rockford Register Star.